Category: Goldman Sachs

GridPoint, a Arlington, Virginia-based company that offers a "smart grid platform" that leverages information technology to align the interests of electric utilities, consumers and the environment announced on March 27th that it received a $15 million strategic Investment from the Quercus Trust.

The platform applies information technology to the electric grid to provide utilities with an intelligent network of distributed resources (e.g., advanced load control devices, batteries, solar systems) that reside at the point of consumption – the home or business. Additionally, the platform’s modular, scalable [ed. note: revised spelling] and upgradeable architecture enables utilities to create a practical path for integrating new clean technologies (e.g., plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cells).

During peak demand periods, the platform enables utilities to efficiently balance supply and demand by discharging stored power or reducing loads with minimal impact on customers (i.e., controlling temperature versus shutting down air conditioners). Utilities can also optimize existing baseload generation assets and relieve stress on transmission and distribution (T&D) lines.

The platform serves as a virtual peaking power plant, enabling utilities to avoid the regulatory, environmental and "time-to-build" hurdles associated with building centralized plants while fueling the mass adoption of renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions and conserving fuel, capital and land resources.

For consumers, GridPoint’s platform provides protection from power outages, increases energy efficiency through online energy management and integrates utility-controlled renewable energy systems, paving the way for the commercial success of residential and light commercial solar and wind energy sources.

An illustration of how GridPoint’s SmartGrid Platform works is provided below (click for full-size image):

GridPoint also released a separate press release on March 27th in which it and Duke Energy announced positive results from what is believed to be the first commercial test of utility-controlled "smart charging" for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Suniva Inc., an Atlanta-based company that manufactures and markets high-efficiency silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells, recently announced the completion of a $50 million Series B round of financing.The funds will be used for Suniva’s new Atlanta-area manufacturing facility that is scheduled to begin operating in the second half of 2008.